it is a double ring up front. 42 and 53. The rear is a 6 speed 13-24...i liked the bailout gears on my MTB for sure. Eventually i will see what i can do about extending my climbing range...i do not normally climb standing but i did on this bike and iy seemed much more natural than trying to stand and pedal on the MTB so that is what ill do in the meantime...or get my old butt off and walk 😆😆😆

I'm so used to seeing 50/34 now, what used to be normal 42, now looks to my eye like half-step.

I made a breakthrough in climbing standing (efficiency) when I figured out, to not be geared too low so cadence too fast, nor too high so having to pull hard on the handlebars, but middle of that where I'm using mostly my weight on the pedal without much pull, and perhaps about 50 cadence or lower, nice and easy. When climbing at higher torque, I try to use whatever chainring gives me the better chainline, to put less stress on the chain. However I still note quicker wear on the chain than when I was always spinning in low, that higher load does have an effect. Also, for my flat-bar bike, bar-ends for a more forward hand position, helps climbing while standing, as well as better hand ergonomics, less wrist angulation when the bike swings laterally.

LOL. So how many rides did it take to figure out you took the wrong free advice, 10 rides?? Still it shouldn't be that slow, but those tires looked way too fat.
Noglider should hang his head in shame.
So now you basically have an old TEN speed, 8 diff gears with GIs both high and low worse than my SA 5w, 47 to 110. LOL. Without a co-op there it won't be easy changing it. A 50/ 36T in the front would be the first thing to try.
This bike is the other end of not commuter practical, skinny thin tires and still no rack mounts that I see. But still a good ride around bike that looks like a good fit.

i am not sure why he should be hanging his head in shame... he has been nothing but supportive and helpful along my journey.
MEH, its 5 miles and i basically just use it as an excuse to ride...i cant see myself pinning racks or fenders on any bike. Even when i rode motorcycles i stripped them down to the bare parts needed to go, stop, and turn.
this bike started life as a touring type bike and does have some little mounting holes and pins on the fork and stays but they will never get touched.

You are not wrong though, it is still not a "commuter" and is absolutley on the opposite end of the spectrum from the MTB. But its fun, looks cool, ill ride it and it will be commuted on :) and i still spent less on these 2 bikes that it costs to get a battery for an E-bike 😉

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...741e3954f0.jpg
My next bike so I can say I have a basket......

Yesterday I rode my tour cruiser weight with Rohloff14. First highway ride of the year 64 miles with 3 good valley hills.
All 3 faster than 29.5 LOL, got up to 41.1 mph, weeeee. My SA 5w has done 46 mph there with a good tailwind.
Avg. was slowed by jacket and long pants and I'm getting damn old now. Passed up 3 tools lying on the road too. LOL.
And yah, it weighs MORE than that bucket bike.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...095d980de0.jpg

Depends if you want to food shop on the way home from work, that's where racks and panniers are awesome.

Only thing I don't like about that huge basket bike is that the wheels are too close to steer, so that one steers by pivoting the whole front end and axle, which makes for heavy steered mass, which can get tricky on high-speed descents or fast e-bike riding. I like the look of the Bullitt bike and similar competitive models like Riese & Muller:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...923643b385.jpg

My ride home is at 2300hrs in a rural town where me and 3 cars are the only ones out. I dont shop even in the van. Mrs.Bunyan handles that between the hours 8AM and 2PM 😉 At this point I am not really a "commuter" so much as some dude that rides a bike to work and back sometimes

I legitimatley want that yellow one.

You should go look on the R&M website. Their regular (rigid) cargo bikes come in two different lengths on the cargo area (60 and 75cm), and then there's the suspension bike you see there, which, also in two different lengths and different electric configuration, range from $8300 to $10,300. Those are bikes for the very well heeled family, the 60 can hold 2 small kids and the 75 can hold 3, or for delivery business in a city. But you better not need to bring up or down stairs.

Oof. My first 10-speed had literally 10 speeds, 5 cogs in the back and a 52-39 double up front. I rode it all over town, including some insanely steep hills that RWGPS says are 6% and 9% -- I think they've flattened out since I was in high school. But with a nice triple setup, I can tackle steeper stuff at three times the age I was back then!

That AD is ABSOLUTELY a fine commuter. I commute with a similar set up for 40 mile RT. Shimano 600 like the AD but friction. Currently it has 26mm GK slicks but they measure 25 on the Araya rims. It is a little bumpy on a few sections of my commute but I put up with it because it is such a fun bike to ride.

it sounds like we have very similar bikes, right down to the rims. My tires are 25mm on paper, dont know what they actually measure.... when you say "but friction" do you mean the RD not being SIS?

Yes. My 85 Ironman Is not SIS. Last week, I was commuting on my Cannondale with friction shifting Suntour Superbe and the same gearing: 52/42 and 13-24.

how much of a part do the shifters play in this situation? I know my RD is SIS but the shifts dont feel indexed. Should i be attempting to index the RD to the freewheel?

For modern indexed shifting, the indexing steps were all in the shifter, the derailleur was basically the same as friction. (Very early indexing tried steps at the derailleur, it must not have worked well, because that disappeared.) My 1989 SIS downtube shifters had a small flip-out wire handle that would allow switching between index and friction. If your derailleur and shifter are in adjustment, indexing should work well. But (with downtube shifters) friction is always there as a backup if the cable stretchs on a trip, for example. My current grip and trigger shifters do not have a friction mode, but, they have barrel adjusters right up there on the shifter, to adjust on the fly.

I assumed that you were set up with an indexed group but now I see you have the “Arabesque” shifters which predate SIS but work very well with any derailleur. They are very attractive levers and that you are having fun riding and shifting is not a good sign😆. You are one of us!
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1203b4655.jpeg

😁😁😁 The shifters are very ornate and I lile them very much, just one more thing that makes the bike feel like art you can ride. I didnt know how i would like friction shifting on the downtubes like this but honestly it great. I dont worry about what gear I am in, or count clicks, or look at any numbers. Its all about feel, pull the lever until it feels right, I feel more connected and at one with the bike as oppossed to it being something that I simply operate down the road.I have heard a few people down talk the down tubes because you have to take your hand off the bars to shift but that has yet to be an issue for me as I can chew gum and walk at the same time.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c772d59a7.jpeg